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It is easy to fall in love with the City of Angeles for various reasons. One of the reasons in the list of most people is the to-do things it offers.
Without much ado and planning, you can just hop in the car, get groovy with your favorite playlist and hit the road to explore something new, something amazing.
Whether it is just a weekend getaway that you are itching for, or you want to go for an extended vacation, here is a compiled list of some of the best road trips you can take from Los Angeles, because these are the routes it is as much about the journey as about the destination.
So, buckle up, get your car ready, set your luggage right and go!
Joshua Tree
Joshua Tree is well-known for its magical beauty. One of the amazing spots in California, it is around 130 miles from Los Angeles and suggested round trip time is about 2 to 3 days.
With its ancient Joshua trees and alien landscape, this national park makes an impressive drive from the city of Angeles. You can also chose to stay here overnight, campaigning in the cozy tents and stargazing with the wild coyotes at night.
The good news for adventure lovers is they can stop by on the way for ghost town stroll. Lazy travelers can take shady hammock nap or visit the Integration for a relaxing bath.
Palm Springs
Palm Springs is another option you have if you looking at weekend travels. At a 100-110-mile distance from LA, the route to Palm Springs make the monotonous scenery alive trip with wind farms and lovely turbines.
For some roadside fun, watch out for prehistoric creatures – T Rex and the 50-foot Cabazon Dinosaurs. You can climb to the top of T Rex and pose (if you don’t mind paying $13 to enter).
But you also get to visit a fascinating dino park for this amount. Upon arriving in Palm Springs, pick up a map and get on a self-guided tour of the town for more fun.
Malibu
At just about 30 miles from LA, Malibu can be another option for road trips especially if you are a beach lover. Far away from the busy city life of LA, Malibu stretches around 30 miles along the Pacific highway after you leave behind Santa Monica and the Pacific Palisades.
While most of the people know Malibu for the luxurious, fancy ocean facing villas, Malibu has a lot more to offer. There are various beaches to explore, canyons to visit and parks to admire along the length of Malibu.
All those who love wine can choose to visit one of the stunning wineries such as Solstice Vineyard, which is popular not just for the wine but also for views.
Salton Sea
With just 165-miles long drive from LA, you would not regret driving to Salton Sea as it is worth every mile you take on the wheels. Since not too many travelers visit Salton Sea anymore, it has turned into a slightly old-world and spooky destination.
So, if you are looking for some eerie adventure, this is the place to be. However, back in the 50’s Salton Sea was quite famous for offering luxury vacations with variety of resorts available. With time, high salinity of this place has reduced the luxury element but added a countryside, archaic charm to the space.
So, do keep it in your list if you are looking for something different than the usual.
Santa Barbara
Located just 95 miles away from Los Angeles, the amazing city of Santa Barbara is less than 2 hours drive and is considered as one of the best beach destinations in California.
It has been seen that in the recent past, several celebrities have made Santa Barbara as their home or at least weekend home away from home.
While the city offers a relaxed lifestyle with its great historic waterfront and chilled out restaurants around the beachline, it gets pretty busy in summers with a great influx of tourists and not just Angelinos.
Las Vegas
Most of you must be waiting to read about the most popular destination – Las Vegas, which is just about 270 miles from LA. Yeah, it is not overhyped and worth a visit, especially if you plan to drive down from the city of Angeles.
The drive is amazingly beautiful and offers lot of to-dos on the way. You can check out the ghost town of Calico, which is known for wild west history. For something unusual, look out for the ruins of former Mineral Springs and Health Spa.
If you are hungry for something substantial, stop by the Mad Greek on the way for a delicious Greek meal. If your itches are still open for something more to do on the way, get on to the Red Rock Canyon, which offers a 13-mile loop followed by the scenic canyon walls.
Big Sur
Undoubtedly one of the coastline stretches in the whole world, Big Sur area is a paradise for most of the road trippers. Located at about 350 miles from the city of Angeles, the Big Sur is around 3 days round trip drive.
Big Sur is where you get to witness the redwood covered mountains dropping into the ocean, with a narrow road engraved into the cliffside. Aren’t you itching to see this marvelous view?
One of the best ways to enjoy this view is by driving along Highway 1, as this could be one of the loveliest routes you have ever seen, and parking the car on the way wherever you find it awesome.
If you are lucky, you might get to see California condors, the largest known birds in North America, gliding right above your head.
Well, these are just few of the road trip routes you can consider; you can never run out of things to do when in LA as the beautiful city is situated perfectly to explore several places around it.
With riches of California to the beach life, road trip is just part of the experience you can create.
